SMRs as Disruptive Technology
Small modular reactors (SMRs) are to large nuclear plants as desktop personal computers were to room-sized mainframe computers. SMRs have the potential to disrupt our world in ways we cannot imagine. Join this panel presentation as the panellists talk about what the future might hold for this new technology.
Mark Lesinski was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) in 2015. CNL is Canada’s premier nuclear science and technology laboratory, managed by the Canadian National Energy Alliance. Lesinski has a distinguished career in nuclear science, operations, projects and decommissioning. His 38 years of experience spans commercial and government nuclear facilities, including power reactor operations, major retrofit projects, and management of decontamination and decommissioning.
Ken Canavan was appointed Chief Technology Officer of Westinghouse Electric Company in 2018. He leads Westinghouse’s efforts to drive next-generation technology and innovation solutions that align with the company’s global business strategy. Previously Canavan was Director of Engineering for the Electric Power Research Institute. There he was responsible for turning industry needs into compelling research and development plans, which improved the safety and performance of the global nuclear fleet. He has more than 30 years of experience in key engineering and risk management roles.
A visiting lecturer at the University of Manchester, Kirk Atkinson joined the Faculty of Energy Systems and Nuclear Science at Ontario Tech University as an Associate Professor in 2019. An expert on SMRs in the marine context, he served on the Physics Working Group and Science Support Network for the United Kingdom’s Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. He was also part of the team assessing nuclear power options for future Royal Navy submarines. As naval reactors are the original SMRs, Atkinson is perhaps the only Canadian academic with real-world experience working in a successful program encompassing the design, manufacture, operation and disposal of small pressurized water reactors.
Join the discussion at this panel presentation on Friday morning.
You can find the full CNA2020 program at https://cna.ca/cna2020/program/.
